Chinese collector scoops up McArthur Binion painting at Art Basel's Unlimited

A Chinese collector has bought McArthur Binion's monumental painting DNA: Transition (2018) for $450,000 in Art Basel’s Unlimited sector. The minimalist, grid-like work is presented jointly by Massimo de Carlo and Lehmann Maupin galleries, who have co-represented the African-American artist since March. After selling several works by Binion at Frieze New York last month, Lehmann Maupin has also sold nine further works by the 72-year-old (priced between $90,000 and $300,000) at Art Basel. “I met McArthur last year at the Venice Biennale” David Maupin says. “His work was next to one of our other artists, Kader Attia, in Viva Arte Viva so I started chatting to him and said how much I admired his work. It went from there.” This November, a solo show of Binion’s pieces opens at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Michigan, where he was the first African-American to graduate from its master’s programme.